We would love to hear from you. Click on the ‘Contact Us’ link to the right and choose your favorite way to reach-out!

wscdsdc

media/speaking contact

Jamie Johnson

business contact

Victoria Peterson

Contact Us

855.ask.wink

Close [x]
pattern

Industry News

Categories

  • Industry Articles (21,155)
  • Industry Conferences (2)
  • Industry Job Openings (35)
  • Moore on the Market (414)
  • Negative Media (144)
  • Positive Media (73)
  • Sheryl's Articles (800)
  • Wink's Articles (353)
  • Wink's Inside Story (274)
  • Wink's Press Releases (123)
  • Blog Archives

  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • August 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • February 2008
  • August 2006
  • Why the Motley Fool needs to be schooled on retirement income

    March 11, 2015 by Kevin Startt

    As a Motley Fool subscriber and part-time admirer, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at their recent hosing of Tony Robbin’s new book, “Money: Master the Game.” Robbin’s first book effort in nearly 20 years shows why we are both getting old. We will never be tried by a jury of our peers because soon there will be none. The ones that remain, however, should realize that indexed annuities are a good solid way for the right client to create a personal pension or as a bond substitute. In our industry’s case, the peers are older than ever and continue to grumble about the viability of indexed annuities in a diversified savings and investment portfolio.

    Meanwhile, brokerage giant UBS rushes out to join the rest of the wirehouse sales forces, who are frantically training their reps to offer this income-for-life solution for retiring baby boomers. The Department of Labor is also escalating efforts to include income annuities in defined contribution retirement plans.

    I was blessed to spend half of the last 36 years on the bank and wirehouse side, much of it internally running sales forces, and recruiting and designing products. I know from board-level positions how laughable it is to see mutual fund families and stock analysts design entire marketing campaigns around rolling performance numbers and gimmicks to attract inflows. These shenanigans right around St. Patty’s day always give me a sense of appreciation for not only the reason behind the first four letters of the word “analyst,” but also why figures lie and liars figure.

    I am just as embarrassed, in turn, by how the life and annuity business-builders play games with illustrations, dividends and caps on everything from whole life to fixed indexed universal life. So what is Mr. Self-help Tony Robbins up to that would cause Motley Fool to declare index annuities the scourge of the earth and be so dastardly?

    There is no doubt that the opportunity cost of not being fully invested in the current fourth-longest bull market in history makes the upside potential of an indexed annuity seem inconsequential relative to the full return of the S&P 500, especially with cap rates stuck in an annual point-to-point range of 3 percent to 5 percent for the last three years. That’s not why savers are pouring tens of billions per annum into FIAs, however, as Motley Fool conveniently overlooks.

    Annuity savers buy for two simple reasons: peace of mind and the comfort of knowing that they cannot outlive their income. Investors buy Motley Fool recommendations from their court-jesting crew of crack analysts for a simple reason: They want to grow their money to assure a reasonable return over the cost of future living. That’s why investors subscribe to find out whether dozens of lawsuits will impact the chip-maker for Apple Watches, or if a contrarian bet means payday for speculators when we are wearing Tim Cook t-shirts with two Apple Watches on our hands and feet to check calorie counts from head to toe.

    Motley Fool fails to point out differing motivations for the two contrasting options available to savers and investors. One — the annuity — is a savings vehicle, and the other one — stock — is an investing vehicle. While Motley Fool is beating up indexed annuities and therefore indexed life about their opportunity costs in a roaring bull market, they fail to point out two additional calculated reasons why some investors may opt to have a portion of their investments in indexed annuities.

    While the Fool is talking about how much investors would have lost in opportunity cost through not being invested in stocks the last six years, they fail to emphasize that bonds have outperformed stocks for the last 30 years, according to Barclays, and that because rates are so low, one or two small steps for the Fed to increase rates could set conservative bond investors back with losses more than any other bear market for bonds since the Civil War.

    One could look at the low-yielding Japanese bond market in February 2015 and see that a 60 basis point move in Japanese rates upward caused the Japanese 10-year note to drop 6 percent in one week, according to Barclays. FIAs make a good bond substitute.

    Maybe Tony Robbins and I do burn the midnight oil until 9:00 p.m. now, but his two chapters on indexed annuities explain why safety and lifetime income as a pension alternative to stocks and bonds will not be burned over the next decade.

    Originally Posted at ProducersWeb on March 10, 2015 by Kevin Startt.

    Categories: Industry Articles
    currency